Blog

Traceability is quickly gaining recognition in the seafood industry as an effective tool that can help illuminate opaque supply chains and verify sustainability and social responsibility claims. However, the traceability landscape is complex and constantly evolving, making it a difficult concept for many to fully grasp. Future of Fish recognized that industry-wide adoption of traceability best practices would be dependent on a shared understanding of the concept, and enlisted the help of FishWise, World Wildlife Fund, and the Global Food Traceability Center to create a Traceability 101 Toolkit – a one stop shop with helpful and simplified resources on all things seafood traceability. This toolkit will help empower environmental and social NGOS to effectively guide their industry partners towards the goal of robust, end-to-end supply chain traceability.

The resources in this toolkit were born out of responses from surveys and interviews with conservation organizations, who expressed the need for high-level traceability concepts clearly explained through multimedia platforms. The traceability tools currently available in this toolkit are:

NGOs can now use these tools to ensure that they all have the same understanding of end-to-end supply chain traceability, and educate their industry partners on steps to take towards implementing traceability best practices. FishWise Traceability Division Director Mariah Boyle explains that “this toolkit is a significant step towards greater alignment and understanding of seafood traceability. NGOs and companies with expertise on the topic can sharpen their traceability lexicon with the glossary and think about new traceability applications by viewing the slide deck. Those new to traceability can view quick PSAs as a 101 on the topic and a one-pager on the five core functions of traceability.

This toolkit is intended to evolve with the continually changing landscape of seafood traceability. It will serve as a dynamic platform that can continue to house new and improved tools to support greater understanding and more effective engagement in conversations about traceability and traceability technology in seafood supply chains.

If you’d like to learn more about seafood traceability, please visit our FishWise Traceability Resources page for additional information.